Cincinnati Chili Udon Want to Pass Up
I don’t hide my political views very well…and I don’t try to. You googled a recipe and my blog popped up (probably Mochi Muffins, lol) and here you are. My blog is mostly about food, a little about travel, and the occasional musing on sports, my family, and politics.
Try Not to Skip to the Good Part
Well, you can skip to the recipe with the button above, or take a couple of minutes to read the next paragraph to get to know me and what I believe in. If you supported he who shall not be named, skip to the recipe. America just elected a narcissistic, unqualified, amoral, grifter as president of our country, for the second time. An anti-woke platform that, when you think about it, says, if you don’t look like me, live your life like me, you can’t have a seat at the table because it is only for folks like me. I am incredulous, depressed, and angry. Enabled by a cast of bad players, sycophants, and opportunists who care only about power and money, he rides into office intent on destroying democracy. Once again my hopes of an eminently qualified, lifelong public servant, compassionate WOMAN president were crushed. We had 3 months of joy, sanity, normalcy, million-dollar smiles, and hope with her and Gov Walz’s campaign. Now we can only dream of what might have been.
What’s Your Self-Care?
I confess, I go to Cookbook signings, like Kristina’s in Brooklyn!
So, as I think about my next steps as part of the resistance, I turn to doing things that make me feel better and relieve stress. What do you do? Crafts? Ceramics? Sports? Blog? (lol) I row and play tennis, which helps me keep sane. And of course, I cook and bake. Times like now I turn to childhood favorites and dishes that are warm and homey, comfort food to get me through.
Kristina Cho, author of Mooncakes and Milk Bread, and Chinese Enough (highly recommend both her books), posted a recipe for Cincinnati Chili Udon. I imagine as a native of Cincinnati, Skyline (Cincinnati) Chili is the very definition of comfort food for her. Her’s has the warm, tart -sweet flavors of Cincinnati Chili from cinnamon and vinegar but then she adds Harissa for spiciness and finishes with soy sauce for an Asian twist. She serves the chili over Japanese udon noodles topped with an egg yolk and cheese. It’s delicious.
Prep Time < Cook Time
The chili takes 90 minutes to cook but most of that time is spent simmering on the stove. While it simmers, kick your feet up, eat bonbons, anything that makes you feel better. You deserve it.
Get your seasonings together. I used TJ’s Harissa paste instead of powder. Dice onions and mince garlic and saute until lightly brown. Add ground beef and cook until the meat loses its pink color. Use ground beef that is 15 -20 percent fat, a happy medium for flavor and moisture. Add your seasonings and water and simmer. The sauce is ready when it has reduced by about half. It will look thick and rich and smell incredible.
Top with cheese and the “takes it to another level” egg yolk. Garnish with green onions and serve immediately. Mix the egg yolk into the sauce and noodles to give it a silky creamy finish.
It’s delicious served over udon noodles but I think it would be equally yummy over a bowl of rice or as a topping for roasted sweet potatoes. The chili reminded me of the Afghani dish, Kadoo, cooked pumpkin topped with a meat sauce and yogurt. Kristina’s Cincinnati Chili with its warm Mediterranean spices would be a perfect stand-in for the meat sauce as would sweet potato for pumpkin. I’m currently obsessed with Japanese sweet potatoes-indescribably delicious.
So make this chili, throw it over whatever you like, curl up on your sofa, and watch a classic Rom-Com, or maybe a silly, mushy Hallmark holiday movie. Rest up, the resistance begins tomorrow.
Cincinnati Chili Udon
Ingredients
Sauce
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion minced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 1 lb ground beef 80/20 fat
- 3 tbsp tomato paste
- 6 cups water
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
Seasonings
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp coarse salt
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp black pepper
- 1 tsp harissa powder substitute harissa paste 1:1
- 3/4 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves
- 1/2 tsp sugar
- 2 bay leaves
Finished Dish
- 4 bundles of frozen udon
- 4 egg yolks
- Cheddar cheese shredded
- Green onions thinly sliced, for topping
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic, cook while stirring occasionally until starting to brown, 4 to 5 minutes.
- Add the beef and break up the meat into smaller clumps with the edge of a spatula. Continue to cook until the meat is no longer pink, 4 to 6 minutes. Stir in the tomato paste and cook for another 1 to 2 minutes.
- Add the water, apple cider vinegar, and soy sauce and bring to a simmer. Add salt, cinnamon, black pepper, harissa, cumin, cloves, sugar, and bay leaves. Stir to blend.
- Reduce the heat to medium low to maintain a gentle simmer. Cover with lid but leave a gap for steam and allow the chili to simmer until thickened and reduced by about half, stirring occasionally, 60 to 90 minutes. Allow the chili to cook for a few minutes before serving.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the udon to warm through (frozen udon is already cooked). Strain the water and divide the noodles between bowls.
- Top the noodles with chili and add an egg yolk to the center. Sprinkle on cheese and green onions. Toss the noodles to mix the cheese and egg yolk with the chili.
